Yes, despite my long-time stance of the "stupidity" of no expandable memory or user replaceable battery, somehow or another that didn't stop me from getting an unlocked Nexus 6 64gb version and then activating it on my Sprint account for free without having to renew my contract.

So, given all the Samsung in my signature, exactly how did I end up with a Nexus? Well, I've noticed with my last two phones (HTC EVO 4G and Samsung Galaxy Note 2) that I was always gravitating toward AOSP or at least CyanogenMod. It seems like I'd always switch back to Sense or TouchWiz ROMs, but then I'd always start longing for CM again, etc.

The main thing is that I got tired of the wait for updates. For several of my Android devices (especially my Note 10.1 2014 Edition tablet and my Galaxy Camera 2), there's simply no reason for such a severe lack of updates or at least timely updates, and although my Note 2 phone is rather long in the tooth in tech years, it's proven in the past few months to easily run Lollipop (by way of CM 12.1) yet there's no Lollipop in sight from Samsung for the Note 2.

The other issue is that I'm tired of Sprint. They severely ticked me off after my recent European cruise, where I supposedly signed up for their free text roaming as well as free low-speed data in most of the countries where I vacationed, only to get a big fat $500+ overage charge for three phones that supposedly had this free roaming plan activated. It took almost a month of back and forth with Sprint Support until they finally removed all the charges, but by that time I was so angry with them that if I hadn't recently added my wife and oldest son to my unlimited family plan, since I am technically out of contract with them, I would've dumped them so fast...! But now that I didn't go through Sprint to get a subsidized phone upgrade, I can drop them at will, pop a different SIM in my Nexus, and simply move on. More importantly, when I go out of the country on vacation, I can also just use a local PAYG SIM in my phone instead of wasting time getting charged overages for 1x speed data roaming. And if I have any regrets for ever leaving sprint, well, my wife and son are stuck with Sprint for at least 1.5 more years, so I can always just go back on their plan.

Now, as I pick the crow out of teeth (tastes like chicken), in my defense of my stern stance against phones with no expandable memory, in the past most of those phones were ridiculously limited to something < 32GB. And if I'd gone through Sprint to buy the Nexus 6, I would've still be limited to 32GB and only one color, as that's their only option for the Nexus 6. But 64GB is plenty of storage on a phone (at least for me), and it's really ridiculous how little I've actually used so far. As for the user replaceable battery, no it's not as simple as popping off the back cover and popping out the battery, but there are plenty of take-apart videos on the Nexus 6 now, and replacing the battery is relatively easy.

So far, I really like the Nexus 6. It almost immediately updated from Lollipop to Marshmallow. I did have some issues with rooting it (actually, I soft-bricked it pretty badly trying to use an automated rootkit to root it -- it wouldn't even boot past the bootloader screen), but I was able to manually flash back to stock with adb/fastboot, and eventually was able to get root through a more manual method. Of course, running on the bleeding edge is not without its caveats! I've encountered about 1/2 dozen bugs in the Marshmallow OS in just two days, with a couple verging on show-stoppers as one causes my alarms not to work and the other stopped me from using Wifi Tether Router. I think I've got the alarm issue close to being worked around, and the developer of Wifi Tether Router quickly gave me a workaround to that app up and running, so all in all it's not horrible, and the benefits of Marshmallow definitely outweigh the caveats. The improvements in the camera are worth it alone! I'm loving that camera!

Well, I've noticed with my last two phones (HTC EVO 4G and Samsung Galaxy Note 2) that I was always gravitating toward AOSP or at least CyanogenMod. It seems like I'd always switch back to Sense or TouchWiz ROMs, but then I'd always start longing for CM again, etc.

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IP, congratulations on that new phone. On my old phones and on my HP TouchPads I have CyanogenMod on them. I think of all the devices I have, that I like CM's ROM the best. It's just simple, clean, quick and it works.

Enjoy your phone and I'm glad that things eventually worked out for you with that bill from Sprint.

Congratulations on your new smartphone, IP! Can you say how much you paid and where you purchased it? I need to replace my LG G2 on Sprint and am considering getting the Nexus 6. I'll probably end up renewing my contract and getting something subsidized, but the Nexus 6 has been on my mind lately.

I got an unlocked white 64gb version from Amazon.com for $400. The subsidized blue 32gb version at Sprint is $200 (with a two-year contract), but (1) I really really wanted 64gb and preferred white and (2) the extra $200 was worth it to me not to have to sign another two-year contract, so when (not if) they tick me off again, I can simply walk. I also really enjoyed that there was no activation fee, which is ironic because when you buy a phone from Sprint they usually charge you like $50 to activate it (sometimes they waive it, but not always). You'd think it would be the opposite. I just walked into the Sprint store nearest to my house, told them this Nexus 6 was replacing my Note 2 on my existing account, they gave me a SIM (which is the exact same one used in the iPhone 6 so they have plenty of them and don't let them tell you different), and 10 mins later it was up and running.

One of the techs asked me where I bought it, and when I told him Amazon he asked, "Why didn't you just get from us?" Before I could say anything, the other tech in the store said, "Because we don't offer the 64gb or white, which is exactly why I didn't buy mine here." So I simply said, "Bingo."

IP, congratulations on that new phone. On my old phones and on my HP TouchPads I have CyanogenMod on them. I think of all the devices I have, that I like CM's ROM the best. It's just simple, clean, quick and it works.

Enjoy your phone and I'm glad that things eventually worked out for you with that bill from Sprint.

Sent from my Lenovo TAB 2 A10-70F using Tapatalk

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I just really got tired of the typically cumbersome overlays of HTC Sense and Samsung TouchWiz. I kept going back to TouchWiz mostly because of the S-Pen on the Note 2, but once I found an app (S-PenCommand) that gave me every S-Pen feature (and more) on CyanogenMod 11, I never looked back. And then when a Milestone version of CM 12.1 came out, I was really stoked because that's the only way the Note 2 is ever going to see Lollipop. I'm still very tempted to put it on my Note 10.1 2014 edition tablet.

That overage bill from Sprint really had me frosted! Haha. Since I had just added my son and wife to my account (with subsidized phones), I couldn't just walk out on them sticking them with their fraudulent overage bill, so even after I worked it out to get a full refund, I still swore that I would never get stuck in that situation again. From now on we're buying unlocked phones only, and if I can possibly help it I will never be under another contract again.

My problem is that I'm a packrat -- not in the 'ooh! shiny!' sense; maybe digital hoarder would be a better description…
I've mostly filled a 64Gb microSDxc card (lots of music), so for the otherwise great Nexus ecosystem to work well for me would require a significant change in my electronic lifestyle…you know, clean up after myself

EDIT: poor manners here, internetpilot -- congrats on the new phone!

Last edited: Nov 14, 2015

My useful BH links -- BH FAQS/repair options/digitizer discussions"Friends are the Fambly we choose" ~Shared pain is diminished, shared joy is increasedinanimate objects are smarter than we give them credit for~our lives are too short to not help others~when you find a big kettle of crazy, it's best not to stir it Dilbert 9/22/09~ making no decision is really making the choice to do nothing, about something~The organic spell-checker is nearly 100% accurate, but sometimes, it just doesn't care.

I'm a big external storage guy myself and I went nexus years ago during the Nexus 4 fire sale. There was NOTHING else in that price range that was anywhere near the class of the Nexus 4. Pickings were slim at even twice the price. Today, it remains very satisfactory in all ways but the two I knew I'd hate going in... lack of storage and physical size (it's too big). If I've got the cash to be picky with my next upgrade, microsd will still be a big priority, but as it was last time, it won't be the very biggest. I consider it money well spent because the device has held up so well in all other respects.

Congrats on your new tech and welcome to nexus. I've rooted and rom'd other devices, but with nexus the ease of it is very appealing. Actually I picked up a moto g for $20 (it's basically my microsd card, that just happens to have it's own screen, speakers, chipset and OS) recently and discovered it's unrootable (just this particular vzw prepaid model). My moto g is just a media player (an aPod?), so I don't mind, but generally other devices all have little quirks and it seems like you have to research each individually to figure out how to do it. With nexus, it feels more like a feature you're supposed to use than one which requires an elaborately planned heist to use.

Yes, the ease of rooting and ROMing of Nexus devices has become a priority with me. Google has even officially stated that doing either or both does not void warranty, although you may need to return the device to factory status if it needs to be sent in (easily done by Wugs Nexus Root Toolkit, even if bricked). I bought a Samsung Tablet (the TAB S) and because it was popular and not a carrier model (wifi only) it wasn't too bad to root (I checked that chainfire was on board before I bought it) and there are some ROMs to choose from, but it convinced me that I will never buy a non-Nexus phone and will never go on contract with a carrier given the trend to locked bootloaders lately.

I do want more internal memory. I don't mind that there are no SD cards, but I do mind that 16GB and even 32GB is considered an acceptable starting point for any phone without an SD card and that, like Apple , they charge outrageous amounts (compared to SD cards) for additional increments. Other than that, I'm happy with everything on internal memory and occasionally cleaning up and adding new things (no difference between attaching an sd card or my phone to my computer). But that's me. Not trying to sell anyone else.

When I do think about my next phone, I'll have to seriously consider the Nexus 6 with 64Gb, but I'm looking at the 6p with 128GB. Of course, by the time my Nexus 5 gives up the ghost, I may have the October 2016 models to consider.

My problem is that I'm a packrat -- not in the 'ooh! shiny!' sense; maybe digital hoarder would be a better description…
I've mostly filled a 64Gb microSDxc card (lots of music), so for the otherwise great Nexus ecosystem to work well for me would require a significant change in my electronic lifestyle…you know, clean up after myself

EDIT: poor manners here, internetpilot -- congrats on the new phone!

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Ever since I moved to Fairfax, VA a few months ago, I've been using Google Play Music and Amazon Prime Music rather than music on my SD card (and now my internal storage on Google iPhone...uh...Nexus 6 -- haha). I started to get more into the whole Google thing when I upgraded my Note 2 to CM 12.1, and now with the Nexus 6 I'm really starting to get into the whole "Google" thing a lot more. I just couldn't do this when I lived in Florida because I got such a bad, verging on non-existent data signal most of the time.